


A Day at the Con

by kquail



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Fluff, Heartshipping, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-04
Updated: 2019-09-05
Packaged: 2020-10-10 00:23:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20518916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kquail/pseuds/kquail
Summary: Ryou Bakura is supposed to be running a D&D game at Domino comic-con, but when Yuugi catches up with him he's not so sure he'll be able to do it.Just some silly heartshipping fluff.





	1. Chapter 1

“Where have you been, Ryou?” Yuugi sighs in relief, and pauses to catch his breath. “You’re supposed to be running D&D in half an hour, and I couldn’t find you anywhere. I looked in the gaming room, the exhibition space…”

Ryou’s leaning against the wall outside the hotel where Domino comic-con is held, the fingers of one hand closed tightly around a can of gin and tonic. He turns his head towards Yuugi with a faint smile; his cheeks are suspiciously rosy, and Yuugi feels his heart drop.

“Did you win the tournament?” Ryou asks, before taking a swig from his can. Before Yuugi can answer he chuckles. “Of course you did. Did anyone recognise you?”

Yuugi self-consciously tucks his fringe back under his Dark Magician hat. He looks more like the King of Dorks than the King of Games in his painstakingly handmade cosplay, but Ryou can’t bring himself to think Yuugi’s anything less than adorable in it.

He shakes his head. “It was kind of nice, actually.” He pauses; his heart skips another beat as he watches his blushing companion drink even more. “Ryou, are you-”

“I’m fine, I’m fine…” Ryou stands up properly and takes a careful step away from the wall.

Yuugi’s kohl-lined eyes widen in horror. “You’re _swaying_, Ryou – how many of those have you drunk?”

Ryou bites his lip, as though he’s trying not to laugh. “Not too many, I promise.” He tips his head back and drains the last of his can. “I’m a little tipsy, but I’m fine.”

He moves towards the overflowing rubbish bin, stumbling slightly. With a sharp intake of breath, Yuugi rushes to steady him with an arm around his waist.

Ryou raises an eyebrow. “What’s this for, Yuugi?” he teases. “You’re never normally so affectionate in public.” He stuffs the empty can between a pizza box and a pile of even more crushed gin and tonic cans.

“What the hell are you doing?” Yuugi whispers sharply, hoping that at least some of the empties aren’t Ryou’s. “I thought you were looking forward to running your game? I’ve seen you run games in worse states before, but still…”

Ryou stifles a giggle at Yuugi’s serious expression. “I just… I got a little nervous. I knew the con would be big, and busy, and _loud_, but…”

“Why didn’t you come and find me?”

“You seemed to be having fun duelling – it must be nice just to _play_, without the fate of the world on your shoulders or, you know, anything like that.” He allows himself to relax into Yuugi’s arm a little more, smiling blissfully. “I would have felt terrible dragging you away.”

“There are more important things than card games – if you can believe it.” Yuugi glances at the time on his phone. “Shit, we’ve got twenty-five minutes to sober you up. Did you eat anything today?”

“Um, does gin count?”

It takes all of Yuugi’s energy not to glare at Ryou and shake him for being so foolish. He rummages in one of his pockets and hands over a chocolate bar. “Here. It’s better than nothing.” He looks over his shoulder at the gaggle of cosplayers gathered on the steps up to the revolving hotel door. “Why don’t we sit down for a moment?”

Ryou gingerly nods, and allows Yuugi to guide him over to a free stone step. A nearby group of excitable teenagers in brightly-coloured wigs abruptly stop their conversation to stare at Ryou as he flops down heftily onto the floor, prompting an exasperated facepalm from Yuugi.

As Ryou slowly nibbles at the bar of chocolate, Yuugi sits next to him, placing a comforting hand on the faded grey denim of his jeans. “You can… You can definitely do this. I believe in you.”

Ryou splutters. “You don’t sound very sure of it.”

“You’re the best dungeon master I’ve ever played with.” Yuugi’s fingers drum gently on Ryou’s thigh. “I’m sure your instincts will take over and you’ll do great.”

Fluffy white hair brushes Yuugi’s shoulder as Ryou shakes his head vehemently. “It’s going to be a complete bloody disaster, Yuugi. I can just feel it. _Why_ did I agree to do this again?”

Yuugi’s not quite sure how to respond. He reaches around to stroke Bakura’s back, hoping that the gentle motions of his hand over the soft cotton of his t-shirt will bring something resembling comfort.

“I… I can’t do it!” Ryou’s eyes are wide with panic. “What am I going to do, Yuugi? Is it too late to tell the organisers I’ve suddenly fallen ill?”

“Shhh.” Yuugi’s hand tangles in the silky hair tumbling over Ryou’s shoulder, and pulls him closer. “If you want to go home, I’m sure we can figure something out.”

Ryou frowns for a moment. “If we go home now, we’ll miss the karaoke later.”

A disbelieving chuckle slips through Yuugi’s lips. “Karaoke? You?”

Blushing furiously, Ryou fiddles with the hem of his t-shirt. “Oh, I don’t know… I wouldn’t _usually_, but maybe it could be fun – maybe you could come up there with me?”

Yuugi snorts. “I didn’t think it was possible for you to be drunker than you look.”

“Is that a yes?” Ryou draws back and bats long eyelashes at Yuugi.

“_No_!” He laughs at the absurd thought, but it’s hard not to get taken in by such sweet, imploring eyes. “If you still want to do it when you’ve sobered up… Maybe.”

“Who says I’m planning on sobering up?” Ryou gives what he thinks is a sly wink, but overall it just adds to the intense sloppy-drunk vibes emanating from his entire being.

“Your game, remember?”

Two ten-sided dice seem to have materialised in Ryou’s hand as if by magic, and he’s rolling them absent-mindedly through his fingers with surprising dexterity. Yuugi sighs softly to himself and closes a hand around Ryou’s.

“I can tell how nervous you are – you always play with those dice when you’re nervous – but hey, I’m here.” He leans forward, nuzzles into Ryou’s cheek. “I can sit with you while you run the game, or leave you be. Whichever you prefer.”

Ryou turns his head, finds Yuugi’s lips, and falls into their comforting embrace.

Yuugi’s painfully aware that the teenagers in brightly-coloured wigs have once again gone quiet, and Ryou’s gentle tongue tastes like a gin distillery, but he’s just happy to give as much comfort as he can. He slowly draws back, brushes Ryou’s fringe out of his face, and smiles.

“Right. I’m extremely tipsy, but I’m going to run that game, and it’s bloody well going to be fun.” Ryou’s lips stretch into a crooked, confident smile that reminds Yuugi far too much of evil spirits. “Thank you, Yuugi.” He stands up straight, then staggers slightly.

“Uh, should I come with you?” asks a nervous Yuugi, holding out a hand towards Ryou.

With a sigh of resignation, Ryou takes his hand. “Perhaps you’d better.”


	2. Chapter 2

Yuugi steps out of the gaming room and softly closes the door with a relieved smile. Ryou’s still noticeably tipsy, but as soon as he’s behind that DM screen he seems to forget all of his nerves. Those poor innocent roleplayers are in for a wild ride, and part of Yuugi wishes he could stay to watch, but he doesn’t want to be too much of a distraction. Besides, with all the duelling he’s barely had chance to look around.

The convention is taking place over several floors in a labyrinth of function rooms, and there are crowds of colourful cosplayers sweeping through every corridor like a river. It’s not surprising that quiet, shy Ryou balked at having to navigate it alone; it’s almost easier for Yuugi to allow himself to get caught in the aimless current, but after a few minutes he makes a decisive break for the gaming stalls.

“Yuugi!”

A faint voice echoes through the general cacophony, and Yuugi turns to see Otogi waving at him from behind one of the stalls. Smiling weakly, Yuugi pushes his way over.

“Keep your voice down,” says Yuugi. “Nobody else has recognised me yet.”

“Who else would be dressed like that? Besides, I already heard that the Dark Magician won the Duel Monsters tournament.” Otogi grins, waving a hand over the rapidly-shrinking piles of Dungeon Dice Monsters merch. “My games will be sold out soon at this rate – better pick something up while you still can!”

“That’s really awesome,” says Yuugi, absent-mindedly running a hand over the box for a DDM set he bought three months ago, but never got round to opening.

“What happened to Bakura? I saw him a couple of hours ago clutching a can of something while looking lost. I waved to him, but he totally blanked me.” Otogi raises an uncharacteristically nervous finger to his cheek. “Was it something I said at our last roleplay session?”

Otogi tends to say a _lot_ of mildly obnoxious things at their weekly roleplay sessions, but Yuugi waves a hand as if to temporarily brush them from his memory. “I think he was just… nervous. He’s in the gaming room right now, probably luring a bunch of newbies into a terrifying trap as we speak. You know what he’s like.”

“I still haven’t forgiven him for killing my bard.”

“Uh, I think you’ll find that _you_ killed your bard, Ryuuji,” Yuugi chastises. “Maybe you should try _not_ seducing every other character that crosses your path. Anyway, wasn’t that three months ago now?”

Otogi narrows his eyes. “I don’t forgive easily.”

“So, uh… Are you going to stick around for the afterparty?”

Otogi’s face instantly relaxes into a confident smile. “Of course. I’ve been showing the ladies my best dice tricks all day – it would all be for nothing if I didn’t mingle later.”

Turning his head to hide the smile he can’t quite suppress, Yuugi cringes at the thought of Otogi and his fangirls bearing witness to him and Ryou embarrassing themselves on a karaoke stage. He coughs, disguising a stray chuckle, then turns back to Otogi. “Well, I guess we’ll see you in a while – I want to have a look at the rest of the stalls.”

Yuugi fights his way through the crowds and trawls the stalls for a while. He gives a brief nod of acknowledgement in the direction of Mokuba, who’s managed to sneak away from his brother just long enough to drop what looks like way too much money on Capsule Monsters merchandise, but there are too many people around to stop and talk.

By the time Ryou’s game is supposed to be wrapping up, Yuugi’s starting to feel fatigued by the constant onslaught of noise and movement, but he’s managed to pick up a few fun-looking games and puzzles, as well as a new set of pastel purple dice for Ryou. His entire apartment is overflowing with dice already, but “You can never have too many dice!” tends to be Ryou’s cheerful philosophy on the subject.

Yuugi waits patiently outside the game room door; there’s a lot more noise coming from in there now that the players have settled into their characters and are fighting what sounds like a tense final battle. There’s a sudden loud cheer, followed by laughter, and a couple of minutes later the door flies open and everyone except the dungeon master pushes their way out.

As soon as there’s space, Yuugi slips in and smiles at a grinning Ryou as he tidies away all his dice, notes, and character sheets.

“Good session?”

Ryou nods, then takes a swig from what looks like yet another can of gin and tonic. “You were right, Yuugi… Nothing to worry about.”

“Where did that drink come from?” Yuugi asks, but he immediately spots the answer as Ryou opens his bag to stuff everything back inside. “How many of those did you _buy_?”

“Ah, well…” Ryou’s already rosy cheeks flush even redder as he points a finger at Yuugi. “I did tell you I was nervous… But never mind – at least this way we don’t have to buy anything from the over-priced bar.”

Yuugi clears his throat. “If we don’t get kicked out first.”

Ryou tosses a can over in Yuugi’s direction. He only just manages to catch it, reaching over so far that he nearly loses his balance.

“Come on, you’ll look cute as the Drunk Magician – better get catching up.”

With an almighty sigh that finally accepts he’s not going to get any sense out of Ryou today, Yuugi opens the can and takes a large swig. Shuddering, he remembers why he doesn’t normally drink gin and tonic.

“I saw Otogi earlier – he’ll probably be sticking around for the afterparty too…” Yuugi begins, desperately wishing he had the nerve to finish the sentence with, _so please let’s not embarrass ourselves by singing karaoke_.

“I know what you’re thinking, Yuugi, but you’re not getting out of it that easily,” Ryou says with a wink. “You _definitely_ agreed to sing with me earlier.”

“Don’t flutter your eyelashes at me like that, pretending to be innocent…” Yuugi sighs again. “Okay, fine. We can do karaoke, _if we have to_, but I have some conditions.”

Ryou’s face breaks into a silly grin. “Oh? Conditions?”

Yuugi nods gravely. “First, when you wake up tomorrow with a horrible hangover and regret everything, you’re not allowed to hold me responsible… and second, you let _me_ choose the song.”


End file.
